Restaurant merchant category gift cards are a great way to save when dining out or ordering food as they’re frequently included in promotions where you can receive a 10% discount or earn thousands of Qantas or Velocity points.
However, there is often some confusion about how and where these gift cards work as they’re quite different to traditional gift cards. This article explains everything you need to know about restaurant gift cards so that you’re able to get the most out of them.
How restaurant gift cards work
Restaurant Choice, Cafe Choice, TCN Restaurant, TCN Good Food and TCN Pub & Bar are all examples of what’s known as a merchant category gift card.
Essentially, these are prepaid Visa, Mastercard or Eftpos gift cards that are programmed to only be accepted at specific types of businesses that correspond with the theme of each gift card.
All businesses that accept card payments are assigned a merchant category code (MCC). For example, the MCC for Guzman Y Gomez is ‘5812: Eating Places, Restaurants’ whilst McDonald’s use ‘5814: Fast Food Restaurants’.
That means if you have a Restaurant Choice, Cafe Choice or TCN Restaurant gift card, you would be able to spend it at both Guzman Y Gomez and McDonald’s as the merchant category codes 5812 and 5814 are supported by those gift cards (albeit unofficially in the case of the TCN Restaurant).
If you had a TCN Good Food or Pub & Bar gift card, on the other hand, you would still be able to use it at Guzman Y Gomez but not McDonald’s as those two gift cards don’t support fast food (5814).
When you use one of these gift cards, you don’t have to ask the restaurant if they accept them because they should just work. Treat them like you would a regular credit or debit card.
For detailed guides on how to use each of these restaurant gift cards, click one of the links above or search the gift card name here on GCDB.
Promotions
Restaurant merchant category gift cards are all regularly included in promotions. These are typically either discounts such as 10% off or bonus points offers.
With the bonus points offers, you usually earn 20x Everyday Rewards or Flybuys points per dollar spent, meaning 10% of what you spend on the gift cards is returned to you in the form of points that can be redeemed on groceries and other purchases.
Everyday Rewards points can also be converted to Qantas points and Flybuys points can be transferred to Velocity. Some people choose to swap their supermarket points for frequent flyer points because they can potentially be worth a lot more if used to book reward flights.
Coles and Woolworths run by far the most offers on these sorts of gift cards but we sometimes see them on sale at other places such as Giftz, Card.Gift and Qantas Marketplace.
GCDB publishes articles about all of these promotions on restaurant gift cards so make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram to be alerted to upcoming deals.
Know where to use them
The biggest challenge people seem to have with these restaurant merchant category gift cards is knowing where to spend them.
If you have a Restaurant Choice, Cafe Choice or TCN Restaurant gift card, you should be able to use it at almost any restaurant or eating place because they all support the two main dining merchant category codes (5812 and 5814).
However, as mentioned above, the TCN Good Food and Pub & Bar gift cards don’t support the MCC for fast food (5814) so they won’t work at as many places.
This is because 5814 doesn’t just cover typical fast food chains like McDonald’s, it actually extends to cafes, pizzerias and other places you might not think of as ‘fast food’.
Most businesses use a merchant category that you would logically associate with them but occasionally we find ones that aren’t so obvious. This may be accidental, a result of a business that has evolved from its original purpose or because the merchant is part of a larger group of companies that operates across multiple industries.
To help clear up some of the confusion about where these restaurant gift cards work, we’ve built a searchable Merchant Database of businesses that have been known to accept them.
It’s still a work in progress but we’re making regular updates as more information is submitted by people who have tried these gift cards at various places.
You can help contribute to the list by letting us know where you have successfully or unsuccessfully used your own gift cards.
Use a mobile wallet
If you have a physical restaurant gift card, you should always add it to your mobile wallet such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay.
Paying with a mobile wallet increases the likelihood of your gift card being accepted as the payment terminals used by some restaurants won’t accept physical gift cards. Mobile payments are also more convenient and secure.
Restaurant Choice and Cafe Choice gift cards that feature the Visa logo can be added to your mobile wallet simply by entering the sixteen digit card number, expiry date and CVV (security code) in your mobile wallet app. It doesn’t matter what name you enter.
Physical TCN Restaurant, Good Food and Pub & Bar gift cards can be converted into digital gift cards by going to their respective websites, pressing the Go Digital button and following the prompts.
If you encounter an error when attempting to convert a physical TCN gift card, register it and then try again.
Ask to split your payment
If you have a small leftover balance on a restaurant gift card, the easiest way to use it up is to ask if you can split your payment across two cards when paying in-person at a restaurant or cafe.
For example, when it’s time to settle your bill you can say “hey, can I pay $1.13 on one card and the rest on another card?”. Many restaurants and cafes will be happy to oblige but some may refuse.
Sometimes it can help to make it clear that you’re not asking to split the bill amongst several patrons as working out who ordered what can be annoying for staff. Instead, tell them you want to pay the entire bill yourself just with two different cards.
For major restaurant chains, check the Merchant Database as for many of them it includes information about their policies on split payments.
Note that some restaurants surcharge card payments so if your first attempt fails you may need to ask them to enter a slightly lower amount.
Share your best tips
If you know of any other tips for using Restaurant Choice, Cafe Choice, TCN Restaurant, Good Food and Pub & Bar gift cards, feel free to share them in the comments below.
You can also help contribute to our Merchant Database by letting us know about where you’ve used your gift cards or what the merchant’s policies are for split payments.
Featured image credit: GCDB, The Card Network, Blackhawk Network
3 Responses
In your opinion what is the best / most widely accepted card that you like? Any extra special places that accept these cards you wouldn’t normally expect? Thank you
It’s a toss-up between the Restaurant/Cafe Choice and TCN Restaurant gift cards. Restaurant/Cafe Choice gift cards support the most merchant category codes and are sometimes included in promotions where you can load as much as $500 on each card.
By comparison, almost all offers on TCN Restaurant gift cards limit you to $50 and $100 cards which can be a bit annoying to manage. However, one of the best things about TCN gift cards is that their app makes it really easy to monitor each card’s balance.
You can check the Merchant Database for more but some of the less obvious places I like to use these gift cards are bakeries and Uber Eats.
Cafe & Restaurant choice are almost always 7% off on HCF. Essentially a neverending 7% discount on all eating out I do.